Tactical Flashlight

[alamo5000]

Before I never had a good flashlight but some friends turned me on to it and now I love my lights. I've considered buying more but I don't want to hoard flashlights LOL.

My first one is a Surefire EDCL-1. I carry it and use it constantly. It's really grown on me. It's not super long or anything like that. The only thing that for a while I thought I would change was that the bezel is wider than the body. If I can find one about the same size with a straight body design I might buy one. The battery lasts a long time and it's absolutely the best for having on the night stand or whatever. In weather situations where the power goes out I always keep that light in the same location. I've used it a ton.

My second light that I really like is the Surefire Titan Plus. That thing is a tank and goes everywhere with me. It fits on my keychain and has remarkable brightness and throw for it's size. It runs off of a single AAA battery.

I definitely can recommend both of those, although they might not fit your specific needs design wise. If you want a longer light they have a Surefire EDCL2-T that is longer than mine but the same basic design. That one runs off of two batteries vs mine which uses one. After my experience with those though I am dyed in the wool Surefire light guy.

I've thought about buying several of each of the ones I have now to stash around for emergency use. Over the years I can't tell you how many times I showered by flashlight after the lights went out or whatever.

I also thought about it more than once to buy more and to give them out as Christmas presents. Good lights are one of the most handy things I own now. Cheap lights are not even in the same ball park.

[fixer]

Streamlight polytac is a good option. I am rough on flashlights and these have performed well. They aren’t too expensive, super bright, don’t burn your hand, great grip, and easy on battery.

[peterb]

https://darksucks.com/products/quark-qk2a-mkiii

I’ve had good service from the earlier foursevens lights. Haven’t tried this latest incarnation.

[Shoresy]

Streamlight polytac is a good option. I am rough on flashlights and these have performed well. They aren’t too expensive, super bright, don’t burn your hand, great grip, and easy on battery.

If you're not in for a "down the rabbithole we go" approach to flashlights, it would be hard to wrong with a Polytac (or two). The lego-ized 6P is another good option, but requires a bit of understanding of how the lights go together and what you really want out of it.

[javemtr]

https://darksucks.com/products/quark-qk2a-mkiii
I’ve had good service from the earlier foursevens lights. Haven’t tried this latest incarnation.

The Foursevens Quark MKIII is an excellent light. I personally prefer the version that runs on a 16650 rechargeable or 2xCR123 batteries though: https://darksucks.com/products/quark-qk16l-mkiii

[lwt16]

I've had just about all the brands over the last 24 years of LEO work. I can't kill any of the Fenix flashlights I have purchased....and I have a ton of them. Currently, I am running a PD36R as the primary at work and got two 21700 cells with it. I bought an additional dual cell wall charger and that combination has been great. Streamlight is the other brand I have had super reliability out of and all my current weapon lights are Streamlights. I think I have 5-6 of those.

I did have a ton of trouble with a Surefire back in the day and had to send it back twice. I've killed more than one 4sevens but that was back in the day. I had one Nitecore that had a parasitic drain issue but again, that is back in the day/older model that is no longer offered.

Regards.

[Navin Johnson]

I've been getting stuff (Crap) from places like Wally-world in the $20 - $40 range. They start out good, but ALWAYS crap out. Usually the switch, other times something else.
What is a good and durable tack-light. I'm looking for something no longer than 8 inches and not much more than 2 inches in diameter.
I don't want to throw away money, but I'm finally convinced to spend what it takes to get something decent. Suggestions welcome.

Surefire G2X Pro/Tac/LE. Decide what model works best for you.

Streamlight microstream USB.

The two are less than a $100 combined and will cover most needs till you can define what you need better.

I have Elzetta, Malkoff, Fenix, Sunway, Surefire, Streamlight but the ones I use most and have multiple copies of are the above.

[Clusterfrack]

After a long and expensive flashlight odyssey, I have finally settled on the Malkoff Bodyguard 2. I have two of them: a small CR123/IMR16340, and a larger 18650. Both are spectacularly bright, but usable for general lighting use when they time out to low after 8 sec.

The BG2 head also mounts on my AR Mini-scout body, for the best, smallest WML I’ve used.

[whomever]

Just FWIW, prior posts (including mine) tend to be of the form 'I've had good luck with Brand X'. It might be more helpful to the OP if people give the why behind their preference.

I use a flashlight for:

1)Rare but important: emergencies, big or small: finding the dog at night before he finds the skunk. Lighting up suspicious people. Lighting up the scene of a wrecked car to make sure there aren't any overlooked victims. For that I want a lot of lumens. Once upon a time 100 lumens was a lot, nowadays it's easy to get several times that. And I want that to be the default mode - when I press the button I want all those lumens right now. And I want both momentary on (e.g. in case the suspicious person is armed and I want to move somewhere else) and constant on (in case I want leave it on while looking for the dog).

2)Common: general utility use, looking in a dim corner or under something. This is 98% of my use. I don't want a lot of lumens because the splash back doesn't help looking under the fridge, and I want it to last many hours, in case e.g. I'm spending the night walking out to a trailhead. I want this low mode to be reasonably accessible without having to play a tune with buttons or anything, because I might have one hand holding the leash or whatever when I want to turn the light on.

3)I like rechargeables, so I don't have the 'should I replace these half used batteries' problem. Most of my lights are from the 18650 era, but if I can get what I want with one that uses eneloops, so much the better (because NiMH doesn't have the safety concerns, small though they may be, that LiON has).

4)I want them to work, even when I pull them out of a soggy pack. The good news is that of the lights I have had (Surefire, Malkoff, 4Sevens, Nitecore, Streamlight, Thrunite, Zebralight, ...) they all just work. I don't think I have ever had a failure. I have had some of the 'hiking' headlamps - Petzl, Black Diamond - fail, so I don't use those any more.

It is kind of the golden age of flashlights. I remember when Surefire was young - 100 lumens or something, but only for ??20 minutes?? in the incandescent days. I didn't feel like I could afford to keep one in batteries, but when they came out with the firat LED one I dug deep and got one. It was maybe 90 lumens for an hour on a pair of 123's. I took it to a low light class and everyone ooohed and ahhhed. Who could imagine such over the top performance! Nowadays you can probably get that from an AAA keychain light.

It's pretty hard to go wrong - get one with the switchology and other features you want from any of the bigger manufacturers and you'll be happy.


If you want specific reviews, BTW, the PF for flashlights is candlepowerforums.com.

[ST911]

I've been getting stuff (Crap) from places like Wally-world in the $20 - $40 range. They start out good, but ALWAYS crap out. Usually the switch, other times something else.
What is a good and durable tack-light. I'm looking for something no longer than 8 inches and not much more than 2 inches in diameter.
I don't want to throw away money, but I'm finally convinced to spend what it takes to get something decent. Suggestions welcome.

If anyone asked, I missed it... What's the light for, how do you dress, and how do you want to carry it? 8"x2" is a lot bigger than needed for most purposes in the current market. I like my 6/G footprint lights a lot, but I get the same performance out of smaller lights that carry more places. And, lots of "good" lights out there. Fewer "great" lights.

Living in my pocket, SF EDCL1-T. Other than those I've lost or given away I think I still have all my SFs, and if I have lamps for the incans they all still work. Buy once, cry once.

Malkoff lights are GTG. Some Streamlights. A few others.